Mesmerizing Kashmir: Wazwan

My first blog on Kashmir and the topic is not the beauty of Kashmir but its about food. Strange isn’t it? But well, that’s how I am. I am a foodie and food gets a lot of importance from me. Whenever I travel outside, I always look forward to the various delicacies that are on offer. Sometimes I do the research beforehand or I find out about them after visiting the place. The Travel to Kashmir was not a very well planned one and hence, I didn’t get much time beforehand about the delicacies and I guess somewhere inside me, the beauty of Kashmir super ceded food.

Three of us, me, Asif and Subho went to Kashmir in late 2018. We were lucky to get a very friendly driver named Fayaz who doubled up as our guide throughout our stay in Kashmir. One day, I asked him about the most famous food of Kashmir (non-veg ofcourse) and he told me it’s Wazwan. Fayaz was a wonderful storyteller and he went about explaining about the delicacy and how without having Wazwan, our trip to Kashmir would remain futile. We personally were pretty mesmerized with all the beauty around us and frankly didn’t have any plans to have food outside our hotel since as I said earlier food was not a priority in this trip. But after hearing about Wazwan and how Kashmiri marriages aren’t completed without Wazwan we felt it was worth a try. It was a kind of challenge as well since according to Fayaz Bhai after having Wazwan, we will feel that Biryani is a distant cousin. I being a biryani lover took it as a challenge because according to me there is no better food than Biryani so I had to prove him wrong with an explanation which I can only do after having it.

So on 2nd January, 2019 Fayaz Bhai took us to Mughal Darbar. It was a small restaurant in Srinagar but clean and well decorated. Fayaz bhai was kind enough to let us know that Wazwan is a multi-course dish so we should stick to 1/4 plate or 1/2 plate to share among ourselves, otherwise it would be too much for us. Good, he told us because we ordered 1/4 plate and the amount of food that came was difficult for us to share and finish. 

Wazwan is a multi course meal served with 7 types of non-veg dishes topped with rice. The items include, Mutton Sheek Kebab, Two types of Chicken Kebabs, Mutton and Chicken Gravy Items and gravy items with meat balls in them. Just looking at the granduer and the quantity would make any person dumb founded specially when you think that what we ordered was only one fourth of the full dish.

We started eating and we realised it to be very tasty. We were wondering if we would have come to Kashmir during College days then probably we could have tried the full dish but at that moment it was getting difficult to finish 1/4 dish. Because of rich spices and oil heavy food it was highly difficult to finish all the items. We ordered a couple of Pepsis to help us gulp down the final pieces of meat. If I have to compare it, I think 1/4 plate of Wazwan is like 3 plates of Biryani if not more.

After we finished and came out of the restaurant, Fayaz Bhai was standing with all pride to get our feedback about Wazwan. We were truthful that yes it was a very unique and nice dish and thanked him for guiding us to the place but I personally couldn’t agree that it was better than Biryani. Wazwan couldn’t beat Biryani in my books.

One thing is for sure that if you visit Kashmir then Wazwan is a must. If you like Non-Veg, spicy and rich food then Wazwan is for you and you won’t be disappointed. Even if you don’t like spicy food, try it once, you won’t be disappointed.

So tell me, did you have Wazwan before? What is your feedback about the dish? Do you think our Kolkata Biryani gets beaten by Wazwan? Let me know your thoughts.